Why Getting More Sleep Helps You Build the Body You Want
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Welcome to another episode of Embrace Your Real! Today, we're diving into a topic that often gets overlooked but is absolutely vital for achieving your fitness goals: Sleep. In this episode, I discuss how sleep influences your body composition and workout effectiveness, and offer practical tips to optimize your sleep routine even amidst the chaos of daily life.
Even if you can't add more hours to your sleep schedule, we'll equip you with strategies to improve sleep quality and maximize the benefits of the rest you do get. Tune in to learn more!
What I discuss:
Sleep effects your hormones.
Sleep balances your blood sugar levels.
Sleep boosts muscle building.
Sleep helps to crush cravings
If you loved this episode, be sure to tune in to…
Episode 339: How to become a “morning person” with your workouts…
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hey, beautiful human, can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned. If you're ready to embrace a real. Let's get it. Let's go. You. [00:00:23][23.6]
[00:00:29] Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast. Why getting more sleep can help build the body that you want. Sleep is often very overlooked in the realm of building the body that you want, but it does have a profound impact on your fitness journey and it's undeniable. Honestly, the benefits that sleep has. I see so many women all the time saying, you know that they're eating healthy, they're working out, they're saying it's awesome, but they're not still they're still not seeing the results that they want. And so that's why in today's episode, I'm really going to explain kind of how sleep influences your ability to change your body composition and see the results that you want in your workouts. I know many of you guys might be listening to this saying, you know, I have kids. There's absolutely no way I can get more sleep. And if that's you, stay tuned, because I do think that some of the tips that I have in today's episode are still going to be applicable to you and still help you. So that is exactly what we're going to be talking about in today's bonus episode. Before we dive in, though, I want to share this review. It comes from Jessica McLean. She gave a five star review and said, pure Gold Baby Julie is amazing. [00:01:29][60.3]
[00:01:30] These podcasts have totally changed my mindset about certain topics and I always feel so great after listening. I recommend taking notes during the podcast because she always has tons of great tips or quotes, etc. I am forever a fan. Well Jessica, I'm so grateful for you. Thank you for being such a loyal person over the past few years. I I'm just so grateful for your support in so many different ways. And so thank you so much for taking time out of your day to send this in. And also thank you for subscribing to the podcast. I if you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, you can do so on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or you can follow the show over there if you are tuning in on Spotify. Heyo! Love y'all over there. You can't actually put a review, but you can rate the show, which really still does help us. And then on Apple Podcasts, you can type into the podcast search tab Embracer realm. First, make sure you subscribe completely free, but it just downloads the episodes that come out every Monday and Thursday to your phone. And then also you can scroll all the way down and liberating interview that really does help us out.
Okay, so let's dive into why getting more sleep can actually help you build the body that you want. So number one, sleep actually affects your hormones. So your sleep pattern plays a crucial role in regulating hunger hormones, especially hormones like leptin and ghrelin and these hunger hormones, those are the ones that, you know, I've talked about them a ton on the podcast recently, in the past few months. So if you've been tuning in, you've likely heard me say this, but those are your hunger hormones that tell you when you're hungry and when you're full. [00:02:53][83.2]
[00:02:54] And so when you skimp on your sleep, your body actually ramps up the production of ghrelin, which is that I'm still hungry hormone while dialing a levels of leptin, which is the hormone that signals that you're full. And so this hormonal imbalance can leave you feeling like, oh my gosh, I'm so frickin hungry, and I'm going to overeat. And that, you know, leads you to this complete just binge fest where you're are completely sabotaging your nutritional goals. And plus, an insufficient amount of sleep can actually lead to elevated cortisol levels, which again, I've talked about tons on the podcast, but you know what that does that actually triggers fat storage, especially in the abdominal region. So you can workout consistently. You can, you know, track your macros. You can prioritize your protein intake and your overall caloric intake. But if you are not getting the proper amount of sleep and your cortisol levels are out of whack, you're likely still going to be holding on to fat and leading you to not seeing the results that you want. Cortisol is not our friend, and we need to make sure that we do our best to make sure that we keep those levels balanced. All that to say, prioritizing quality sleep can really help to maintain hormonal balance and support your body's natural fat burning process. Number two sleep balances your blood sugar levels. So yes, sleeping, laying in one place, doing absolutely nothing can actually help to boost your metabolism, which is again, one of those things that I'm like, God, your science and just the way that bodies are created is amazing. But here's why. And adequate sleep. This is essential for maintaining, like stable blood sugar levels and optimizing that insulin sensitivity. Highs and lows in your blood sugar. [00:04:31][97.7]
[00:04:32] That's going to lead to more cravings and a larger appetite. This insulin sensitivity is how effectively your body responds to insulin. So the hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar levels, right? When you're sleep deprived, your body becomes less efficient at processing glucose, which is sugar in your body, which leads to this insulin resistance. And then what happens that's going to increase your fat storage. So that is something that you just again, just one of those things, arming yourself and educating yourself and recognizing how important all of these different factors are when it comes to reaching and achieving the body composition that you want, and just overall achieving those goals that you have. On the flip side, though, getting enough sleep allows your body to effectively utilize carbohydrates for energy, which prevents them from being stored as fat. Number three sleep actually boosts my. Muscle building. So during deep sleep stages, your body enters a stage of deeper rest and repair, where it goes through a bunch of essential physiological processes to support muscle repair and growth. And one of those functions that occurs during deep sleep is the release of this growth hormone, also known as human growth hormone or HGH. So this hormone plays a crucial role in stimulating growth, repair and regeneration of tissues throughout the body. When it comes to fat loss and muscle growth, growth hormone is a game changer. It's actually the secret for expediting building lean muscle mass while simultaneously promoting the breakdown of stored fat for energy. So in other words, it helps you torch fat and sculpt a leaner body, more defined body composition. And additionally, this growth hormone enhances metabolic efficiency by increasing the rate at which your body burns calories, even during periods of rest. [00:06:21][109.1]
[00:06:22] To kind of gain these benefits of the growth hormone, all you need to do is have that deep sleep, which is pretty awesome. Again, just going back to God's design of our body, the more that you study it and the more that you recognize these things, you're like, this is not a mistake, that our bodies are built the way that they are. And man, there are just so many cool things that are also interconnected. Number four, sleep helps to crush cravings, so sleep deprivation can actually wreak havoc on your brain's decisions. Making like center essentially, which you probably know this, right? If you have had a day or week or a couple weeks where you're just like, super sleep deprived. Those are the times that you're just not making the best food choices. They're not, you know, the food choices that are definitely not aligning with your goals. And you'll oftentimes skip on protein. You're eating 100% carbs and fats like fast food all the time, all the things. And it's just because your body's ability and your brain's decision making center, essentially that need sleep is just it's getting deprived of that. And so as a result, your body's just going into this, I'm just gonna free for. All right? And I'm just going to eat whatever I want and not getting enough sleep. That actually disrupts your body's ability to recognize feelings of fullness and also leads to mindless overeating. And when we mindlessly overeat, that's when we go over our macros. That's when we're not properly nourishing our body, and that is when we're potentially gaining weight. We're not going in the direction towards our goals. We're going in the direction away from reaching our goals. So by ensuring that we get enough sleep at night, you can make sure that your cognitive function is optimal and your appetite regulation is high and is optimal, which is helps to make it easier to resist those cravings and stick to your goals of building the body that you want. [00:08:04][102.9]
[00:08:05] Okay, so now for all of you mamas listening, you're like, okay, what if I can't get more sleep at night? Like, you're telling me all these things and you told me to stick around and I'm still sticking around. But what if I'm just in this season of life where I cannot get more sleep at night? Like, right now? That's just not happening. My newborn is waking up multiple times a night. My toddler, we're going through sleep regression. You know, all of the things. I want to give you some encouragement and some tips and some things to kind of mull over. Number one, if you can't sleep more than try to sleep better, try to focus on your quality of sleep instead of your quantity. Quality sleep involves achieving this deeper, more restorative sleep stages such as REM, which is your rapid eye movement, your deep sleep. And again, those are just essential for avoiding everything that we just talked about. So how how do we do this? Well, the biggest thing that I would encourage you to do is to avoid screens for at least 1 to 2 hours. And I know that that's hard, right? You're you're maybe putting the kids to bed at seven, 730 and then you're wanting to watch something, a show for 1 or 2 hours with your hubby at night, and then you're going to go to bed. Well, I just want to encourage you that if you want to, if you know that the quality or the quantity of sleep is just not possible to increase right now, at least the very least, try to prioritize the quality of sleep. And that's going to happen with, at the very least, turning off your phone, right? So if you are watching TV, make sure you're not like watching it super close to your eyes, but you're you're watching it at a at a decent distance. [00:09:35][89.7]
[00:09:35] Also, blue light blockers can be helpful turning off your phone so you're not looking at your phone and the TV. If you could turn off your TV, that's amazing. Try to read a book. Try to, you know, talk to your spouse, have that connection time with them, and I will tell you, it will help so, so much. Another thing, and this is 100% not sponsored, but this is something that I've been taking, I would say in the last month or so. So it's pretty still, it's still pretty new, but I love it. And it's called Beam Dream. And I know a lot of other podcasts. It is a sponsor on their show, but it's definitely 100%. I paid for it with my own money. I just heard about it a ton. And so I tried it and it's like a hot cocoa and it has melatonin, magnesium. It has a ton of different ingredients. So you can check it out. It's called Beam Dream. I don't know what the web. Say is directly. But just type that indigo there. You'll find it. And that has helped me so much. If you guys have been following me for any length of time, you know that I'm obsessed with my wiring. That's something that I use to track my sleep, since I don't have my phone by my bed at all. In fact, I've not only been putting my bed across the room, I've also been turning it off. I was reading some things about EMF and just the EMF that comes off of our phones, and so I completely turn off my phone and, I do that in moderation. I probably understand, obviously, that your ring is has some sort of tracking device, so it's likely putting off some EMF, but I'm just trying to eliminate that as much as I can, but that when I do take the beam dream, which is a few times a night, I'm not taking it every single night. [00:11:07][91.4]
[00:11:07] I personally have a pretty good deep sleep already, like that's something that I don't really struggle with a ton unless I am on my phone till really late at night. I do struggle with achieving that REM and deep sleep goals that I have each night that are set in my aura ring account, but it helps so much. So check that out. That can be very beneficial. Magnesium, melatonin. Avoiding alcohol. Again, this really can mess up your sleep and setting a bedtime for yourself and really trying to go to bed around at the same time each night can help so much as well. And again, this can be a whole episode in and of itself. It might be in a future episode, but the key message here is if you can't get more sleep, if you can't increase the quantity of your sleep, try to at the very least, increase the quality of your sleep. Number two don't overexert yourself. So if you can't sleep more, then you need to be mindful of how much energy you're actually exerting during the day, so that you can incorporate more periods of rest to allow your body and your mind to recover. So if you're a new mom and you're not getting much sleep, you might actually see better results from doing 1 to 2, maybe three workouts a week rather than five. Like giving your body that rest is so important. And I've even seen some people say, you know, if I can't, if I'm not sleeping at all at night, baby, should I be prioritizing during nap time? Should I be prioritizing sleep? Or should I be prioritizing a workout? And the fact of the matter is, I think we have a pretty good read on our bodies and we know when we are like sleep deprived and we need sleep. [00:12:36][89.3]
[00:12:37] Choose sleep over your workout. There are so many benefits to quality sleep, so if that's if you're in that season of life where you're like, I just cannot get a workout in and I'm frustrated, it's okay. This season will pass. Our life is in seasons like our. The beautiful thing about life is that it's ever evolving, it's ever growing, and that we're not going to be in the same season of life for the rest of our lives, which is encouraging. Right? And so, just again, if you need to back down from five workouts a week to three, or if you need to prioritize your sleep during nap time over a workout, do what you feel is best and just know that rest and recovery overall that's going to lead to better results. And the lack of sleep can raise your stress hormones, which I talked about before. And so if you can't get more sleep, try to at the very least get those rest hormones in check, right? Challenge yourself to just kind of take rest periods throughout the day. Number three eat more protein. So if you're not getting enough sleep, then protein is really going to be one of your best friends. Eating more protein is not only going to help your muscles to recover from your workouts, but it's also going to help keep your blood sugar balanced. And it's going to help keep your metabolism revving, which is going to also help keep cravings at bay, which is going to in turn help you control your hungry. So hunger. So again, it is all interconnected. And so if you're lacking sleep, try the next day to increase your protein and have your protein goal be the number one focus that you have. [00:14:01][83.8]
[00:14:01] Aim for at least 30 to 40g of protein at least three meals a day. And that will help to not completely, but it will help to offset the effects of your sleep deprivation towards building the body that you want. So I know I talked about it a lot here. Let me kind of recap what was talked about in today's episode when it comes to sleep. So you need sleep to build the body that you want for different reasons. Number one, sleep affects your hormones. Number two, sleep balances your blood sugar level levels. And number three, sleep boosts your muscle building. And number four, sleep can actually help to crush your cravings. But if you are a mama, or if you're in a season of life where just like I can't get more quantity of sleep, here's what you can do. Focus on getting better quality of sleep. So really focusing on the quality of your sleep. And that's going to be determined by the surroundings, the environment that you are creating for yourself. At least 1 to 2 hours prior to going to bed. Number two, don't overexert yourself. And number three, try to increase your protein. So that's 30 to 40g of protein three meals a day. That's at the very least try that. That's going to be so beneficial for you. And I hope that you found this helpful. I hope that you got some good tips out of this. Again, if you are in a season of life where just getting more sleep is not something that you can do, that's okay. There are still things that you can do that will help towards the quality of your sleep. And so focus on that and just remember that. Whatever season of life you're in right now is not going to be the season of life that you're in forever. [00:15:28][87.2]
[00:15:28] So be encouraged by that. And I again hope that you found this helpful. I would love to hear maybe your moments from this, so be sure to screenshot this post it up on your Instagram story. You can also copy the link, send it to a friend and a text message. But that is all that I have for today's bonus episode. I love you so much. I mean, I'll talk to you in the next one. [00:15:46]
[00:15:46] All right sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie A Ledbetter. Yes, it's within a in the middle for that daily post workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it. [00:17:03]